Radio Shack and Human Dignity

I've spent the last several days churning out question after question on Renaissance history, punctuated by the occasional demeaning trip to Radio Shack.

You see, on Friday I purchased a new cell phone and an accompanying new cell phone plan. It turned out the phone was not what I needed, and I returned on Sunday to exchange that phone for another, while keeping the same plan.

I spent seven hours on Sunday trying to straighten out the ensuing mess, including visits to two different Sprint stores and two different Radio Shacks.

The endless miseries do not bear retelling, but suffice it to say, at one point I entered a Sprint store to be told that I needed to call customer service for assistance. I was forced to use a display phone, still affixed to its display with a cord that a single moment's inattention would snap back out of your hands. I stood there quite literally tethered in place for 60 minutes.

At the end of the day, I had spent about $600 in fees and deposits and had no working phones at all.

On the plus side, I picked up a $5 "body fat analyzer" at Radio Shack as an impulse buy, so now I have something else to feel bad about - for only five dollars!